Strategic Storytelling: How to Create Persuasive Business Presentations

Chapter 21

Non-Verbal Delivery

Tip 86: Manage your fear

Even after working on my public speaking for nearly two decades, I have to admit that managing
speaking anxiety is easier said than done. I still feel my heart beating quickly and begin breathing more
rapidly before an important business presentation or keynote speech. On my journey, I have found the
following best practices liberating.

First, accept that speaking anxiety is perfectly natural and normal. Faster breathing and rapid
heart rate pump oxygenated blood to your brain, helping you perform at a higher level. The extra buzz
helps you better recall information and answer questions more rapidly. Let go of the expectation that
fear ever goes away and redirect that nervous energy into your performance.

Second, accept that you do not need to know everything. All you can do is prepare as well as
you can given the time and resources available to you. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, there are
many other experts in the room to turn to for support, hopefully including your boss.

Third, release your expectations regarding the long-term consequences of a given presentation.
Anxiety, by definition, is rooted in uncertainty. If you start thinking about the impact any single
presentation will have on your likelihood of receiving a raise or a promotion, then you are fueling your
fear. Focus on getting to the best answer to solve the immediate problem or capture the immediate
opportunity, even if the answer is not your exact recommendation.

Fourth, rehearse within reason. Since business presentations are guided conversations, rehearse
to internalize the logic and off-slide anecdotes. Additionally, I role-play or ask a colleague to role-play
the other individuals I expect to be in the meeting so that I can formulate answers to questions and
objections. After I role-play, I pre-syndicate the presentation with as many of the key decision makers
and influencers as I can. This is also a golden opportunity to confirm the decision-makers’ expectations
for the meeting. I know from experience that nothing lowers stress as well as going into a meeting with
the deck already stacked heavily in your favor.

Fifth, arrive early to remove the uncertainty of tools and technology. Test your slides in
presentation mode to make sure everything displays as desired; this is extra-critical if your presentation
includes audio or video. If your meeting requires flip charts, make sure the pens are working. Last, if
you will be standing rather than sitting, find a base position outside the projector’s- and the audience’s
line-of-sight to the screen.

Tip 87: Project the non-verbal authority of a peer

The previous chapter outlined behaviors that project the verbal authority of a peer, but to carry
them off, those behaviors must also be complemented with non-verbal best practices as well.

More junior speakers have a number of options at their disposal to increase their authority,
starting with how formally they dress. In addition, more authoritative people give the illusion of
occupying more physical space through using larger gestures and by reducing interpersonal distance
(for instance, moving toward the people who ask questions).

Where your seat is located and how you sit in it also matter. Imagine the “power in the room” the
last time you were in a business meeting. She was probably seated at the head or near the head of a long
rectangular table, showing her hands, and maybe even leaning a little back in her chair.

The way people take notes is also a major sign of respect and authority. Having a scribe take
notes projects more seniority, especially if you are standing while presenting. If you take notes, be
mindful of the tools you use. In most corporate environments, pen-and-paper notebooks signal the most
seniority, followed by tablet computers, and lastly notebook computers, which create a physical barrier.

Finally, take pride in your slides. Developing a presentation takes tremendous research,
synthesis, and design work. To ensure you never have to rush through, or worse, skip slides, make every
slide count and delete nonessential material or put it in the appendix.

Final Words

The ultimate measure of success of a persuasive business presentation is whether or not the decision
reached at the end of meeting is the best one for your company and stakeholders. I hope I have made it
clear that strategic storytelling is mostly about what you do before you actually speak to a group. While
traditional intelligence (IQ) plays some role, I believe emotional intelligence (EQ) plays a far greater
role. High EQ, which can be developed, is what makes you a more persuasive public speaker.

Unfortunately, social networking and always-on media have conspired to rob business
professionals of verbal communication ability, especially young people joining the workplace. The
upside of this modern plague is that individuals such as you, who choose to master the skills of strategic
storytelling, can gain a massive advantage in the workplace.

Being a more persuasive speaker is the fastest way to transform your ideas into positive
outcomes. And, positive outcomes lead to the trappings of career success – raises and promotions. The
future of your company and your career are in your hands.

Strategic Storytelling Quick Reference Guide

SECTION 1: PERSUASIVE CONTENT

Tip 1: Define the problem and make sure it is worth solving
Tip 2: Identify constraints
Tip 3: Build out the mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive set of issues
Tip 4: Convert your issue tree into a hypothesis tree
Tip 5: Prioritize your hypotheses for impact
Tip 6: “Ghost out” your story on paper using the situation-complication-resolution framework
Tip 7: Test your hypotheses and iterate your story
Tip 8: Title your presentation with a “so-what” encapsulating your overall objective
Tip 9: Make your presentation title SMART
Tip 10: Use an agenda slide to provide your audience with a roadmap
Tip 11: Keep agenda slide titles short and sweet so they can be ignored
Tip 12: Limit agendas to no more than five short items
Tip 13: Add creativity to agenda slide design
Tip 14: Start agenda items with action verbs to signal in which mental mode you want your audience
Tip 15: Apply contrast to highlight the start of each agenda section
Tip 16: Start the situation with the current state of the fundamental issue

Tip 17: To “own the flow,” each slide should trigger a question answered by the title of the next slide
Tip 18: Expand on the summary node with depth-first tree traversal
Tip 19: Only go as deep as is needed to introduce the problem
Tip 20: Repeat summary node slides when moving across after going deep
Tip 21: Explore issues and/or opportunities in the complication section
Tip 22: Build up to contentious or counter-intuitive insights
Tip 23: Explore the influence of dynamic trends on the factors discussed in the situation
Tip 24: Deliver the collective impact of the complications on the fundamental issue
Tip 25: Explore the mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive ways to resolve the complication
Tip 26: Place low-impact resolutions in the Appendix to show they have been considered but ruled out
Tip 27: Prioritize recommendations in impact-, sequential-, or emotional order
Tip 28: Handle objections as they arise
Tip 29: Create an epilogue for critical information beyond the main storyline
Tip 30: Use the Approach-Findings-Implications framework for informative presentations
Tip 31: Avoid presenting the random walk you followed in your research process
Tip 32: Protect your intellectual property and limit your legal liability
Tip 33: Do not include an “Executive Summary” at the beginning of your presentation
Tip 34: Annotations at the bottom of a slide should only be used to transition to the next slide
Tip 35: Prove bold claims
Tip 36: Use ellipses in slide titles to support the flow of the story
Tip 37: Give each slide an independent title

SECTION 2: DATA-DRIVEN DESIGN

Tip 38: Use slides only when they accelerate decision-making
Tip 39: The larger the audience, the simpler the slides
Tip 40: The content in the body of the slide must unambiguously prove the slide title
Tip 41: Match the design treatment in the slide body to the message in the title
Tip 42: Design each slide so that it can be covered in three minutes or less
Tip 43: Use animation sparingly (if at all)
Tip 44: Lay out body content from left-to-right and top-to-bottom
Tip 45: Maintain strict design consistency
Tip 46: Maximize contrast between the text and the background
Tip 47: Use solid colors for slide backgrounds
Tip 48: Use large, standard fonts
Tip 49: Keep text short
Tip 50: Apply a consistent format to your slide header
Tip 51: Craft each slide title as a “so-what”
Tip 52: Convert bullet lists into columns
Tip 53: Use real quotes that you obtained directly
Tip 54: Use column charts for trend data with up to ten values
Tip 55: Title graphs with a “what” rather than a “so-what”
Tip 56: Remove all unnecessary elements from graphs
Tip 57: Use chart annotations in the body of a slide to explain critical inflections

Tip 58: Apply high contrast to chart data that directly supports the slide title
Tip 59: Use a more subtle treatment for forecast data
Tip 60: Footnote sources, critical assumptions, and details too granular for the body of the slide
Tip 61: Design stacked column charts to show an overall trend and its components
Tip 62: Orient and order legends the same way data series are oriented
Tip 63: Use line charts or scatter charts for trends exceeding ten values
Tip 64: Stick to one set of axes per graph
Tip 65: Maintain design consistency across similar graphs in a presentation
Tip 66: Do not distort graphs
Tip 67: Pie charts are acceptable for composition snapshots of up to five categories
Tip 68: Consider treemaps as an alternative to pie charts
Tip 69: Rely on bar charts to depict composition
Tip 70: Use waterfall charts to show the cumulative effect of changes
Tip 71: Use distribution charts to show the frequency with which phenomena occur
Tip 72: Use correlation charts to illustrate the interrelationship between two variables
Tip 73: Rely on tables when the audience needs exact values
Tip 74: Use tables when you need to combine text, data, or images
Tip 75: Prioritize the order of table information from top-to-bottom and left-to-right (in Western
cultures)
Tip 76: Ensure that images add constructively to your story
Tip 77: Put text on image slides rather than images on text slides
Tip 78: Obtain royalty-free images licensed for commercial use
Tip 79: Resize images to fill the entire slide

Tip 80: Place high contrast text on images
Tip 81: Stick to a single metaphorical system across all images in a presentation
Tip 82: Use diagrams to represent processes, relationships, and geospatial information

SECTION 3: CONFIDENT DELIVERY

Tip 83: Engage your audience in intelligent, authentic conversation
Tip 84: Project the verbal authority of a peer
Tip 85: Take every opportunity to hold the audience’s attention when presenting over the phone
Tip 86: Manage your fear
Tip 87: Project the non-verbal authority of a peer

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the elite group of individuals who have dedicated their professional lives to
sharing techniques for delivering persuasive business presentations, including: Barbara Minto, Gene
Zelazny, Stephen Few, Nolan Haims, Matthew Abrahams, and Edward Tufte. Similarly, I have been
heavily influenced by thought leaders in the field of keynote presentations including Nancy Duarte and
Garr Reynolds.

This book would not have been possible without the encouragement of my super-agent, Jackie
Meyer, and the skills of my brilliant editor, PJ Dempsey.

Last and most important, thank you Irene – you are the love of my life. I wish I would write as
well as you do and I am fortunate you “volunteer” to edit my first drafts.

About the Author

Dave McKinsey worked in a consulting firm for over sixteen years and is now a writer and
business communications trainer. Please use the contact form speakingsherpa.com to reach him.

1 http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=jan_2009_ice_and_snow
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/January_2009_Central_Plains_and_Midwest_ice_storm
3 http://about.usps.com/news/state-releases/ky/2009/ky_2009_0313.htm
4 https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-facts/decade-of-facts-and-figures.htm
5 http://money.cnn.com/
2010/03/02/news/economy/usps/
6 http://about.usps.com/universal-postal-service/usps-uso-executive-summary.pdf
7 Ian Davis, David Keeling, Paul Schreier, and Ashley Williams. “The McKinsey Approach to Problem Solving.” A McKinsey
published staff paper. 2007.
8 BCG’s presentation also has an extensive Appendix not included here